Sign colored text is too dark

In the 1.16.220 release, text on signs colored with dye and signs colored with the § symbol is much too dark. It only affects signs placed in 1.16.220. In the picture below, the sign on the left was placed in 1.16.220 and the sign on the right was placed in 1.16.210, each using §a (lime) for the color.

As you can see, the text is so dark that it ruins what was for me the main use of color on signs: to make text readable on any wood other than birch.

I cannot confirm whether this is the same bug as the original issue reported here for 1.16.210.59 beta. From the description and comments above, it sounds different, since this is not limited to the use of dyes. The brightness of text does seem to vary inversely with light level (not time of day), but it is still much too dark in low light.

For dyes vs. §-codes comparison I created the following pictures. The §-code signs are in numerical order going down first, then right. I tried to match dyes to §-codes as closely as possible, though they are not the same and probably not intended to be the same. Concrete blocks indicate the dye color used. The dyed signs do appear to match the corresponding concrete at night, but are they are darker or more gray than the concrete during the day.

Some terminology used in this comment:

• §-code means a formatting color code (only; other formatting codes aren't relevant here).

• §-text means text within the effective range of a §-code.

• Default color means the color applied to text that is not within the effective range of a §-code. Using dye on a sign changes its default color.

Signs that were upgraded to 1.16.220 seem to be fine. The colors produced by §-codes and the colors resulting from applying dye are bright and readable. I expect these are the same colors that were intended to be produced on newly crafted signs, but that's where the bug comes about.

For newly crafted signs, colors specified in §-codes are as expected inside the text entry UI but are too dark on the sign itself, both as you're editing it and after you exit the UI. They plausibly might have the correct hue, but the intensity is no more than 50% what it ought to be. It's not just that the intensity is lost: There is a perceptible difference in the colors produced by, for example, §4 (dark red) and §c (red), it's just that they're both too dark.

Also, applying a dye to a newly crafted sign sets the default color to too dark a value. (I don't think it necessarily matches any color generated by a §-code, but I might be wrong.)

Note that you can apply any dye, including black, the first time you set a sign's default color, but after that you can only apply a dye that is a different color from the current default color.

I want this fixed in the next hotfix. You can not even see words that are colored, and that is a big problem for big servers like my smp one where we use colored signs to make reading easier for other players. Using the section sign was so much easier and now that doesn't work at all. This issue better be fixed in the next hotfix update. I don't even care if you remove the dyeable signs but this bug needs to be fixed and fast.

Affects 1.16.230.54. This issue is not caused by being able to dye signs

The reason why signs placed before 1.16.220 have brighter text colors are because the signs actually have the glowing effect, which was added in the betas under the Caves & Cliffs Experiments toggle. You can notice this if you use an ink sac on the sign, as that will remove the glowing effect and make the sign text color much darker, like other signs.

Kmb, that cannot be so, because I have used coloured signs for many years now, long before there were such things as Caves & Cliffs and Experimental mode, and they have always been brighter. This is not an intended feature, but a bug. White doesn't even look like a dull white, it looks like grey now.

After the update where Bedrock was finally able to dye the signs (I was so excited!!!

I hope this gets fixed! 

I would also want to throw in my observation into this since it's related to the issue. No matter what game mode the player is in, they will be able to change the sign's colors, this is extremely annoying for map makers. Even while there's a deny block underneath the sign, or if the player is in adventure mode, they can change the color of a sign. I think this should be only available when you're in creative, survival and if there's no deny block underneath the sign.

I have had to halt almost all progress on a map I’m working on because of this bug

kmb Your workaround does not work on Android in 1.16.220.

Osfanjoshua it also does not work on iOS at all

@Kevin: the ability to apply dyes to signs in adventure mode is a separate bug. I have reported it for you at MCPE-126489.

The Formatting also is gone everything can be entered but it does not go from being entered on the board.  I can't enter bold and half the color disappeared.  Only dark green is available n not green!

@andy escamilla: what you describe is not this bug. It sounds more like REALMS-2514 / REALMS-5898.

Fixed in 1.17.0.52 beta, but the color is slightly different from the color obtained with § when using glow ink sacs.

This is mostly fixed, but it still affects Android devices during night time.

It also has not been hotfixed on Nintendo switch yet.

@unknown - The fix is currently in beta 1.17.0.52. Nintendo Switch doesn't have betas, you'll have to wait till the full release of version 1.17.

Side note: If you update to the 1.17.0.52 beta from 1.16.22x (where x is another number) or a 1.16.230 beta, any sign within the inventory may need to be dropped and re-collected before the fix works (I'll test this further as we get closer to a fix in the public release). This does not apply if updating from 1.17.0.50 or 1.16.210 to 1.17.0.52.

Please update this report. The bug is NOT fixed in the newest beta, the only color which was completely back to normal was white. Please update the report as such.

@unknown - You may need to provide more information then. Did you try what Jonathan said in the comment above?

@LateLag it was a whole new sign. The bug is fixed for white text but it is still incredibly dark for colors like orange and yellow and it's still quite not where it was before with shades like blue and cyan.

I'll try to get some screenshots later

Just know that it IS meant to be darker. Just not pitch black like it was before.

They are? Personally the old ones were much better, the new ones are really ugly

Do you know the reasoning as to why Mojang thought this was a good idea?

If u add glow inc sack to coloured sign in latest beta, it will be bright like the old one.

I believe this is mojang's plan for this issue, so wait a few more months for 1.17 to drop

Affects custom Minecraft emoji on signs such as the Minecoin emoji

Definently not happy that Mojang is just choosing to ignore the issue at hand and just add a feature to "fix" the bug, but at least colored signs are actually readable now.

Will reopen this. As I said before, this is still not fully fixed on mobile.

To reproduce this issue, dye a sign using white dye and observe it in any dark environment.

On Bedrock (windows 10) when you make a coloured sign using the § symbol it will turn out dark. But when you right click with a dye and then right click with a glow ink sac it will turn to the original bright colour. Hope this helps!

The problem is not solved, return everything as it was before. Why can't I write normally in colored letters through the § sign, the letters are dark and not light. (translated via Google Translate)

Noticed in our vanilla bedrock server that some sign text colors have changed randomly??
Text that was green is now pink, and text that was white is now green, we've used text colour formatting for a year now and it's been a mess since before glow ink was added to the game. Please fix!

I'm having the same problem as the poster above. The Métrobus 806 text was light green (§a), but was changed to white in 1.17.40.

The bug is still not fixed as of 1.18.30. When you use a § color code on a sign, the expected color is different than what you actually get.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Place a sign and write text in it using any of the § color codes to color it.

2. Close the sign to see the finished product. Notice that it is a darker color than the text shown when writing the sign.

ExamineCat: please stop adding screenshots to the report for each release. They do not show any change in behavior so they are just cluttering the report. It is enough to comment that the latest release is affected.

Ok, very well, my bad. Latest release (1.19.50/1.19.51) and latest beta/preview (1.19.60.24) are affected.

As of checking in 1.19.83 (might've started happening in an earlier update), all signs placed prior to 1.16.220 have now become darkened. Sign UI text when using § is still lighter than the text on the sign. The fix should be to make the colored text on the signs match the colored text on the UI rather than make the UI text darkened as well.

1.20 remains affected.